Perth researcher Dr Yvonne Learmonth is on a mission, and it’s to help people with multiple sclerosis get moving.
There are more than 25,000 Australians living with MS, a chronic and debilitating disease affecting the central nervous system.
Research has long established that exercise is safe and improves many clinical outcomes for people with MS, including physical fitness, functional abilities, fatigue, depression and cognitive function.
But the reality is that many people with MS do not get the levels of exercise needed to get the best results, so Dr Learmonth, a physiotherapist at Murdoch University, is out to change that.
Part of her goal is to train more people in MS-specific exercises, and educate all health professionals that more needs to be done to help people with the disease stay on their feet.
She has already developed and tested a remote telehealth exercise program with great success and is poised to roll it out to other professionals who can reach more people.
“The telehealth approach proved to be a real benefit in reaching remote communities or cities where they might not have access to exercise physiologists or physiotherapists,” she said.
“Now it’s time to get it into more people’s lives by training other people to deliver it, and the work we’re now doing with MS Australia will develop and test an online education tool to train MS exercise physiologists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists to deliver the program.”
MS Australia, a long-time supporter of Dr Learmonth’s important work, is funding the next phase of clinical studies and trials, with a $225,000 grant over three years.
“We want to increase access to exercise treatment for all people with MS and really empower them to take ownership of their own health with the guidance of healthcare professionals,” Dr Learmonth said.
The work will also include preparations for a large-scale roll-out of the exercise program she has developed. Dr Learmonth will also identify the cost of healthcare provider training and the outcomes.
“The community exercise class I set up for people living with MS during my PhD at the University of Glasgow is still going today,” she said. “That was 10 years ago, and I’ve been lucky enough to continue my MS research at the University of Illinois and now at Murdoch University.
“This next phase of my work will lead to more people experiencing the lifelong benefits of exercise and reduce MS symptom burden and disease progression.”